Gameplay is open-world: Snake can commandeer vehicles like APCs and helicopters, traveling anywhere across the map at his leisure.

Helicopters can be summoned to escort Snake in and out of a mission setting; Kojima even demonstrated how aiding choppers can bellow customizable music (appropriately choosing Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries).

And while that last point merits interest on its own – Hideo Kojima is returning to the director’s chair for the first time since 2008′s Metal Gear Solid 4 – it raises even deeper questions about the creator’s secret interim undertaking: Project Ogre.

A new report from CVG today cites a “source connected to the matter” claiming that Project Ogre is not, in fact, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. Rather, the report states, it’s the codename for Metal Gear Solid 5. The information has not been confirmed yet, however, and it’s immensely counterintuitive to every goal Kojima has outlined for Project Ogre to date.

But there is also the scenario lending partial credence to CVG’s report: It’s even more likely that Project Ogre is neither Ground Zeroes or MGS 5.

The soon-to-be-sixteen-time series director is using Ogre to move away from Metal Gear – he wants the younger scions of the series to take the reigns. And while it’s quite obvious MGS 5 would only draw him in further, so, too, will Ground Zeroes – a current-gen prologue bolstering anticipation for the likely-next-gen feature title. It was just last November when Kojima predictedOgre would “take a lot of time” and, therefore, he would “produce other projects on the side.” So while Ground Zeroes does indeed share many of Ogre’s aspirations, Naked Snake’s next adventure also feels like a dress rehearsal for a creator dedicated to departure.